Matteo Berrettini created tennis history by reaching the semi-finals at Melbourne Park with a huge five-set victory over Gael Monfils.
The seventh seed overcame the French 17th seed in their quarter-final 6-4 6-4 3-6 3-6 6-2 to become the first Italian man to reach the last four of the Australian Open.
The 2020 Wimbledon finalist will now face 20-time Grand Slam champion Rafael Nadal on Friday for a place in Sunday’s final.
“It feels unbelievable (to be the first Italian), hopefully there will be a second one tomorrow with Jannik Sinner,” Berrettini said during his on-court interview.
“I was really happy with myself, it was a great fight with Gael, a great match, a lot of emotions.
“I thought I had him in the third set but then I found myself in the fifth. I really fought hard and I put everything into the court.”
While his effort was commendable, one unruly member of the crowd went out of their way to heckle the Italian from the stands, with what sounded like a “f— you’.
The Italian didn’t seem happy with it and stopped and looked over at where the noise came from.
“I didn’t hear,” Berrettini said. “It’s full of people and I like it — some of them are not really tennis fans I think.”
As other members of the crowd applauded his comments, the quarter-finalist said:
“But it is what it is. You cannot control everybody. I think to be respectful is something you have todo anyway, but I mean it’s fine. I win. I’m happy.”
The crowd was warned during the match by the umpire to tone down some of the behaviour.
Early in the fifth set, umpire James Keothavong told spectators, “If you don’t want to watch, please leave,” as they made noise while Monfils was trying to serve.
A section of the crowd was warned by security over the incident.
